SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 9, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sandboxr's cutting edge software is a bridge between 3D digital design, 3D printing technology and the everyman. The online app provides a powerful 3D manipulation interface, designed to allow anyone of any age to have a truly customized product experience. The app is the ultimate playground for artists, game developers and end users alike.

The Utah startup, is set to launch their 3D printing software, available online via www.sandboxr.com. Sandboxr is made up of a small group of talented and dedicated designers, programmers and business professionals, headed by Berkley Frei, CEO and Founder, TJ Young, COO and Co-Founder and Nick Schulz, CTO.

Founder Berkley Frei, originally thought of the Sandboxr concept over three years ago when speaking to friend and artist, Trent Call. Trent showed Berk a 3D print of one of his characters, as soon as Berk saw it he started asking questions. "It blew my mind, as a 3d artist I knew that I had to have one of those machines- the possibility of making my digital work into real physical objects was too incredible to ignore. Unfortunately, I discovered that these printers were extremely expensive so I then started thinking of ways I could make one pay for itself. It wasn't long before the early concept of Sandboxr formed - I could see a way to make a platform for custom creation." reflects Berkley.

Berk soon found out that companies had already made headways within the 3D printing world, creating software that allowed users to print designs with basic color and texture changes but were too limited in content and customization. Berk wanted a more meaningful custom experience, as a 3D artist he could see the untapped possibilities of making software available where the end user had control over facial expressions and movement from a vast library of crowd-sourced content from 3D artists around the world.

After a three year lead up, researching and working with numerous programmers to make the software possible, Sandboxr is finally ready to launch their much anticipated proprietary software. "The process hasn't been easy, but it has been exciting..." says CTO Nick Schulz, "...the technology in this industry is changing on a daily basis, but there is still virtually no way for the everyman to tap into it. Sandboxr is changing that. We are ecstatic that we have been able to harness these technologies in a meaningful way while staying focussed on providing a simple and fun experience for our users."

In addition to the Sandboxr launch, in collaboration with local Salt Lake City Artist, Trent Call, Sandboxr has been designing and building a 3D printed zoetrope. The Sandboxr technology, along with the availability of 3D printing has made the zoetrope project possible. It will be one of few zoetropes in the world, built using 3D printing technology.

The final artwork will be presented to The Leonardo, museum of Science and Art in Salt Lake City on Friday, February 1st, as part of the animation exhibit Render. Alex Johnstone, Leonardo Exhibit Developer is excited to see the final installation, Alex comments "A zoetrope illuminates the magic of animation in a tangible way, and combining it with 3D printing technology gives it a unique cutting edge spin. I'm very excited for it to become a popular part of the visitor's experience in Render."

The zoetrope project is a natural extension of Sandboxr's philosophy. Artist collaboration is inherent in the Sandboxr experience - between artists and end users or between artists and other artists. Essentially every digital file that is customized by an end user is a collaboration between them and the artist. Berk adds "The zoetrope is a great symbol for Sandboxr as it is a collaboration between myself and Trent. Creating something that is typically very rare and hard to realize, but with Sandboxr tech doing all of the heavy lifting, it enabled us to stay focused on the creative process. Much like the Sandboxr app and customizing products - it's amazingly easy to do something that is typically very difficult and even impossible without."

The looped animation is based on the old time cartoon characters drawn by Trent. With Berk's animation skills, each character was animated and then uploaded to the Sandboxr app. Sandboxr's proprietory software enables each character to then be printed with Sandboxr's full color, 3D printer. The software eliminates countless hours usually needed to ready each character for the printing stage.

Berk's creativity, skill set and vision of the industry, make him uniquely qualified to oversee the creation of the groundbreaking Sandboxr experience. He has worked extensively in the animation industry since he obtained his degree in Art and Animation from the University of Utah in 2008.

Sandboxr is based in Salt Lake City, Utah, led by Founder and CEO, Berkley Frei. Sandboxr is an app experience and online community that allows consumers of all ages to quickly access vast amounts of 3D content and use an intuitive interface to mix, morph and style characters and objects. The interface is also a giant win for gaming developers, publishers and custom toy designers. The merchandising platform will change the face of user interactions and connections to popular characters found in the gaming, animation, comic and art world.